ABOUT ME:

Once upon a time a 3-year-old girl saw a world map -- and her soul was captured forever.
Ever since had she been devouring maps of any kind, nature+science encyclopaedias and adventure books.

Then I suddenly became 22, well-educated and recently employed; inspected not only my heart (that's always) but also my bank account (that one was new), --- and spent half an hour laughing with tears. Comprehending (at last) that I can indeed just go and travel.

PHILOSOPHY:

There's a lot of greatness in Humanity. But also...
I'm definitely not gonna touch politics, the whole sphere is repelling.
But even in private life, people fight, lie, hurt, manipulate, and play all kind of games with each other.
And you know why?
For one reason, and one reason alone.
People believe that Love is a limited resource.
I'll tell you a secret: it isn't.

SOME INSPIRATIONAL LINKS:
Methods of Rationality http://www.hpmor.com/
Public spaces http://www.pps.org/
Children education http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Let me state it clear -- I'm not here for a couch to sleep on. Anyone can easily stay in a hotel.

So the second I sense the host believes he/she is giving me a huge favour and expecting some heavy emotional/practical payback -- farewell, I'm leaving. (You can check the reference from Sanjay Verma if curious)

Then, what am I here for?

For human contact, which warms your heart and enriches your mind.

Isn't it marvelous, to cook together, eat together, stay up talking till 11pm, say "goodnight", then "oh just one more question!" -- and sit back again for an hour more.

How can we meet? Just have some honesty and courage, and write to a person you've never seen before.

Interests

I like exploring the world and self-educating in many ways - observing nature, talking with people, listening to music, reading books, painting (watercolor mostly), swimming, dancing, participating in all types of events

And there's also awareness. But that's not an interest. More like a state I'm trying to be in.

• arts
• books
• literature
• theater
• acting
• dancing
• cooking
• yoga
• pilates
• meditation
• walking
• crafts
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• music
• backpacking
• sports
• swimming
• anthropology
• biology
• cartography
• chemistry
• geography
• geology
• history
• mathematics
• physics
• psychology
• science
• sociology

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC:
In my mp3-player there's indie rock mostly, also alternative and classical rock, instrumental, electronic.
But live... I enjoy everything that captures the beauty of life.

Some of the favourite bands/singers include: Alt-J; Coldplay; Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young); Dave Matthews Band; Fever Ray; Fleet Foxes; Florence + The Machine (first two albums only); Flunk; Imogen Heap; Jethro Tull; Jamie Cullum; Jason Mraz; Kings of Convenience; Led Zeppelin; M83; Pink Floyd; Sigur Ros; Super Furry Animals (Love Kraft mostly); Tori Amos; The Weepies; Yoav.

MOVIES:

----// UPD 2015:
Just decided to top some movies which I find the most marvellous masterpieces. Basically, one can check if another understands cinematography or not while talking about these movies:

Shawshank Redemption;
American Beauty;
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind;
Crna macka, beli macor (Black female cat, white male cat);
Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All about my Mother);
Intouchables;
What Dreams May Come;
Gia;
Interview With The Vampire.

And this mesmerizing short-footage film (I want more short movies!)
Un lever de rideau.

And an awesome piece on making movies:
Фильм Фильм Фильм (Film Film Film).

.

(below are the other masterpieces I fancy)
//----
Forrest Gump;
Dead Poets Society;
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels;
Москва слезам не верит (Moscow doesn’t believe in tears);
Un Homme et une Femme (A Man and a Woman);
Pride and Prejudice (BBC 1995);
Groundhog Day;
Iceberg;
Don Juan DeMarco;
The Truman Show;
The Usual Suspects;
To Kill a Mockingbird;
The Science of Sleep;
Jeux D'Enfants;
Bom Yeoreum Gaeul Gyeoul Geurigo Bom (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring);
Y Tu Mamá También (And Your Mother Too);
Good Will Hunting;
The Talented Mr. Ripley;
Военно-полевой роман (War-field Romance);
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth);
Caotica Ana;
The English Patient;
Catch Me If You Can;
Inception;
Memento;
In Brugges;
Stealing Beauty;
Margin Call;
Все умрут, а я останусь (Everybody Dies But Me);
Seven Psychopath;
Moonrise Kingdom;
Limitless;
The Prestige;
The Grand Budapest Hotel;
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest;

Lion King;
Wreck-It Ralph;
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko (She and Her Cat);
Mizu No Kotoba (Aquatic Language);
Toki O Kakeru Shoujo (A Girl Who Leapt Trough Time);
Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke);
Путешествие муравья / Как муравьишка домой спешил (Ant’s journey / How a tiny ant was hurrying home);
Жил-был пёс (Once There Was A Dog);
Ёжик в тумане (Hedgehog in the Fog);

Bombs (music video by Faithless);
Viðrar vel til loftárása (music video by Sigur Rós);

Breaking Bad (tv);
House of Cards (tv);
Firefly (tv);
House M.D. (tv, first two seasons ONLY);
Misfits (tv, first three seasons ONLY);
Mushishi (tv).

ART:
Ipressionism, Renaissance, Post-Impressionism, Pre-Raphaelites; a certain palette digital art:
http://cs9875.vk.me/u145409630/-14/x_bb432444.jpg
http://files.smallbay.ru/images/botticelli01.jpg
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=http://www.readexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Ophelia.jpg&w=1484
http://orig03.deviantart.net/45b9/f/2008/202/b/6/blossom_by_kidchan.jpg
https://sassyraconteur.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/nausicaa.jpg

BOOKS:
Fiction: -- sci-fi, fantasy, psychological, romanse/friendship, historical/social --

Richars Adams "Watership Down"; Isaak Asimov "Foundation"; Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"; Horhe Luis Borhes "Alef"; Karel Čapek "War with the Newts"; Julio Cortázar "Hopscotch"; Michael Ende "Neverending story"; Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird"; Stanislaw Lem "New Cosmogony"; Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind"; Terry Pratchett "Equal Rites"; Ernest Thompson Seton "The Slum Cat"; John Steinbeck "The Winter of our Discontent"; Thornton Wilder "The Eights Day"; Лев Толстой "Анна Каренина"; Дина Рубина "На солнечной стороне улицы".

Non-ficton:
+Psychological+Spiritual: Clarissa Pinkola Estes "Women Who Run with the Wolves"; Osho "Just Like That: Talks on Sufi Stories".
+Books/articles on social sciense: Alain Badiou "Ethics"; Bruno Latour "We Have Never Been Modern"; Georg Simmel "The Picture Frame".
+Books/articles on Scienses, especially neurobiology and longivity (too many small ones to list).
+Blogs on Social+Sciences+Rational: lesswrong, waitbutwhy, slate star codex
[Looking for MORE -- if you can recommend, please do so]
+ Autobiographies: Agatha Christie "An Autobiography"; Лидия Гинсбург "Крутой Маршрут"; Лилиана Лунгина "Подстрочник"

MANGA:
I had a lot of favorites, from "Naruto" to "Fruits Basket". The one that stayed through time is "Kimi Ni Todoke" (beautiful black-and-white artwork, witty small-font side-comments, not to mention how deep it gets on love and friendship)

FANFICTION:
One and only HPMOR ("Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality", both hilarious and observant, with a lot of heuristics and biases explained within the story)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well... Annapurna trek in Himalai was a brutal challenge. Also I've traveled by myself for a few months in South East Asia. And there've been a lot of great things I've seen and done. But the same goes about my life in Moscow. So it's not about traveling. It's about not taking things for granted, and being open for amazement.

Teach, Learn, Share

Always fancy to learn - and pass my knowledge - on:

- science. all of them, really. math. physics. chemistry. biology. evolution. geology. geography. human evolution. neurobiology. archaeology. anthropology. linguistics. psychology. sociology. pedagogics.
- arts: literature, music, painting, acting [improv theater]
- swimming, dancing, hiking
- cooking

What I Can Share with Hosts

My time, knowledge, joy for life. My cooking))

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Georgia, India, Russian Federation, Turkey